1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to containers and stands for holding and supporting elongated items and relates more specifically to disposable containers and stands for holding and supporting toothbrushes.
2. Prior Art
As society learned that harmful bacteria prevail on many bathroom surfaces, efforts began to keep toothbrushes, and in particular the moist bristle ends of toothbrushes, out of contact with these surfaces. The result of one such effort is the humble toothbrush holder.
Toothbrush holders prevent toothbrushes from contacting countertops and sink surfaces. Consequently, many homes today contain permanent toothbrush holders useful for suspending toothbrushes above countertops and away from harmful bacteria potentially residing thereon. The usefulness of a device for keeping toothbrushes off of sink surfaces, such as a toothbrush holder, is not only understood but also encouraged by the medical community.
Despite the acknowledged benefits of segregating one's toothbrush from bathroom surfaces, many users only employ a toothbrush holder when at home. That is, when travelling away from home, a user is often relegated to putting a toothbrush in a drinking glass or laying a toothbrush on a hotel washcloth, napkin or facial tissue to keep the toothbrush from coming in contact with a potentially unclean surface.
Toothbrush holders are known, especially ceramic and plastic toothbrush holders present in the household bathroom. Toothbrush holders hold and support toothbrushes off of the counter for both health and aesthetic reasons. A vertically supported toothbrush dries more quickly and accumulates fewer germs than a toothbrush lying on the bathroom sink counter, and just looks better.
Hotels, inns, time shares, cruise ships, medical facilities and the like typically do not provide a toothbrush holder and patrons have a choice: prop their toothbrush up in a glass, leave the toothbrush lying on the counter, place the toothbrush on a towel, or dry the toothbrush and place it back in the toiletry kit. None of these options are particularly appealing.
Various toothbrush holders, disposable and non-disposable, have been developed. Several representative devices include:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,902,145 to Wagner discloses a flat, compact case having a plurality of apertures in an upper wall through which the shanks or handles of toothbrushes may be extended, the case standing upright on a suitable surface, and with the heads of the brushes extended above the top of the case. The device further contemplates the provision of a trough-shaped bottom for maintaining the brushes uniformly in place in the holder and which bottom is provided with openings for drainage purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,233,743 to Di Tirro discloses a molded one piece box-like rack having a pair of parallel integral sides and back and adapted to be mounted in vertical planes. The spaced sides include cooperating pairs of downwardly inclined horizontally aligned slots for supporting a comb therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,855 to Heller discloses a disposable toothbrush holder, particularly for the convenience and hygiene of visitors in motels and hotels, holds toothbrushes upright, bristle end up, for sanitary drying, supported in circular openings in a convex upper portion supported by integrally-formed legs. The holders can be molded economically from recyclable plastic material, and can be nested together for space-efficient packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,228,976 to Pretorius discloses a toothbrush holder including a single piece of sheet material including spaced first and second end edges. A single fold area across the sheet material defines a holder portion and a base portion. The holder portion terminates in the first end edge and has a length relative to the base portion to impart a smooth sloping curvature to the holder portion without fold lines when the toothbrush holder is deployed. The base portion terminates at the second end edge. At least one toothbrush receiving orifice in the holder portion is sized to receive the shaft of the toothbrush. A key extends outwardly from the second edge, and a lock for receiving the key is disposed in the holder portion. The lock is spaced from the first end edge to angle the base portion and to deploy and support the holder portion in a position spaced from the base portion with the orifice in the base portion elevated.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D570,144 to Scofield discloses an ornamental design for a disposable toothbrush holder that, in effect, has the appearance of a birdhouse or small house. The design has at least one hole in the “roof” of the design through which a toothbrush may be placed and held in a generally vertical orientation.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a convenient, portable toothbrush holder that can be used to separate a toothbrush from a surface. Further, what is needed in the art is a portable toothbrush holder that can be transformed from a compact, travel state to an erected state useful for suspending one or more toothbrushes. Even further, what is needed in the art is a portable toothbrush holder that can be leveraged to place one or more toothbrushes in a proper position for drying, as repacking a toothbrush in a travel kit or suitcase before it has dried properly may promote bacteria growth.
There is thus a need for an inexpensive disposable toothbrush holder for meeting the needs of travelers, hotels and other inns, cruise ships, travel kits, households, hospitals and other medical facilities, camps, schools, emergency management organizations, and the like.